Starbucks stuns gun lovers: Leave your weapons at home

Talk about a big and unexpected victory for gun control advocates: Starbucks officials this week are taking a strong stand against customers bringing weapons into thousands of its retail outlets all across America.

in national media on Thursday, he said the appreciation events “disingenuously portray Starbucks as a champion of ‘open carry.’ To be clear: We do not want these events in our stores.” He asked for “responsible gun owners” to respect its request.

The Starbucks action is a welcome and unexpected move.

Notice, though, that it comes just days after the latest mass shooting in America killed 12 people at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.

Could this be the turn of the tide that gun control advocates have hoped for all along, especially after 20 children were massacred in Newtown, Conn., in late 2012?

Let’s not get our hopes up too high.

So many other states, including Kansas, have passed laws actually loosening gun restrictions in recent months. That’s not a good sign, and neither is the fact that even the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate could not pass modest gun legislation a few months ago.

Still, the fact that a major U.S. corporation is willing to act in a manner that stands up to the gun crowd in America is a positive sign, something to build on.